Touch event model

• US 9,389,712 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2014
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Beaver, Jason Clay, Platzer, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Bautista, Xiomar L
• Application Number:
  US14/171,680
• Publication Number:
  US 20140145995A1
• Time in Patent Office: 890 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04186 Touch location disambiguation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to methods, software, devices and APIs for defining touch events for application level software. Furthermore, some embodiments are directed to simplifying the recognition of single and multiple touch events for applications running in multi-touch enabled devices. To simplify the recognition of single and multiple touch events, each view within a particular window can be configured as either a multi-touch view or a single touch view. Furthermore, each view can be configured as either an exclusive or a non-exclusive view. Depending on the configuration of a view, touch events in that and other views can be either ignored or recognized. Ignored touches need not be sent to the application. Selectively ignoring touches can allow for simpler software elements that do not take advantage of advanced multi touch features to be executed at the same device and time as more complex software elements.

Claims

1. A method for handling touch events at a multi-touch device, comprising:

displaying two or more views;

executing one or more software elements, each software element being associated with a first view of the two or more views;

associating a multi-touch flag with the first view of the two or more views;

receiving two or more concurrent touches at the first view; and

sending two or more touch events, each touch event describing a respective touch of the two or more concurrent touches, to at least one of the one or more software elements associated with the first view,

wherein, in accordance with a determination that a value of the multi-touch flag associated with the first view indicates that the first view is not a multi-touch view, only one touch event, of the two or more touch events, describing a received touch, of the two or more concurrent touches, within the first view is processed by any of the one or more software elements associated with the first view.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the value of the multi-touch flag associated with the first view indicates that the first view is a multi-touch view.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, in accordance with a determination that the value of the multi-touch flag associated with the first view indicates that the first view is a multi-touch view, the two or more touch events are processed by at least one of the one or more software elements associated with the first view.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating a second multi-touch flag with a second view, distinct from the first view, of the two or more views.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving two or more concurrent touches at the second view; and

sending two or more touch events, each touch event describing a respective touch of the two or more concurrent touches received at the second view, to at least one more software element associated with the second view,

wherein, in accordance with a determination that a value of the second multi-touch flag associated with the second view indicates that the second view is a multi-touch view, the two or more touch events, each touch event describing a respective touch of the two or more concurrent touches received at the second view, are processed by at least one software element associated with the second view.

6. A multi-touch device, comprising memory storing one or more programs, the one or more programs for execution at the multi-touch device, the one or more programs including instructions configured to cause the multi-touch device to:

display two or more views;

execute one or more software elements, each software element being associated with a first view of the two or more views;

associate a multi-touch flag with the first view of the two or more views; and

receive two or more concurrent touches at the first view;

send two or more touch events, each touch event describing a respective touch of the two or more concurrent touches, to at least one of the one or more software elements associated with the first view,

wherein, in accordance with a determination that a value of the multi-touch flag associated with the first view indicates that the first view is not a multi-touch view, only one touch event, of the two or more touch events, describing a received touch, of the two or more concurrent touches, within the first view is processed by any of the one or more software elements associated with the first view.

7. The multi-touch device of claim 6, wherein the one or more programs include instructions configured to cause the multi-touch device to determine whether the value of the multi-touch flag associated with the first view indicates that the first view is a multi-touch view.

8. The multi-touch device of claim 6, wherein, in accordance with a determination that the value of the multi-touch flag associated with the first view indicates that the first view is a multi-touch view, the two or more touch events are processed by at least one of the one or more software elements associated with the first view.

9. The multi-touch device of claim 6, wherein the one or more programs include instructions configured to cause the multi-touch device to associate a second multi-touch flag with a second view, distinct from the first view, of the two or more views.

10. The multi-touch device of claim 9, wherein the one or more programs include instructions configured to cause the multi-touch device to:

receive two or more concurrent touches at the second view; and

send two or more touch events, each touch event describing a respective touch of the two or more concurrent touches received at the second view, to at least one more software element associated with the second view,

wherein, in accordance with a determination that a value of the second multi-touch flag associated with the second view indicates that the second view is a multi-touch view, the two or more touch events, each touch event describing a respective touch of the two or more concurrent touches received at the second view, are processed by at least one software element associated with the second view.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs for execution by a multi-touch device, the one or more programs including instructions for:

displaying two or more views;

executing one or more software elements, each software element being associated with a first view of the two or more views;

associating a multi-touch flag with the first view of the two or more views;

receiving two or more concurrent touches at the first view; and

sending two or more touch events, each touch event describing a respective touch of the two or more concurrent touches, to at least one of the one or more software elements associated with the first view,

wherein, in accordance with a determination that a value of the multi-touch flag associated with the first view indicates that the first view is not a multi-touch view, only one touch event, of the two or more touch events, describing a received touch, of the two or more concurrent touches, within the first view is processed by any of the one or more software elements associated with the first view.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for determining whether the value of the multi-touch flag associated with the first view indicates that the first view is a multi-touch view.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein, in accordance with a determination that the value of the multi-touch flag associated with the first view indicates that the first view is a multi-touch view, the two or more touch events are processed by at least one of the one or more software elements associated with the first view.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for associating a second multi-touch flag with a second view, distinct from the first view, of the two or more views.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for:

receiving two or more concurrent touches at the second view; and

sending two or more touch events, each touch event describing a respective touch of the two or more concurrent touches received at the second view, to at least one more software element associated with the second view,

wherein, in accordance with a determination that a value of the second multi-touch flag associated with the second view indicates that the second view is a multi-touch view, the two or more touch events, each touch event describing a respective touch of the two or more concurrent touches received at the second view, are processed by at least one software element associated with the second view.